Missile rack adapter

ABSTRACT

An adapter member for rendering a cluster-type missile rack supportable on storage brackets or on missile transport vehicles having a variety of differently arranged load bearing surfaces. Each adapter has on its undersurface at least two spaced support contacting surfaces, and includes means to lock the adapter to its support. Shock absorbing vibration isolaters are incorporated into the design.

[451 May 2, 1972 United States Patent Briggs ...lO5/366 A Fellabaum m 0a m h t 43 65 99 mm 6 w M 32 a a c m "m 3 mm Tc P9 AS m m R Cn m R m mIV Mm Mn UN as FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [73] Assignee: The UnitedStates of America 644,313 4/1937Germany..................................,296/3 represented by theSecretary of the Navy June 29, 1970 22] Filed:

Primary Examiner-Philip Goodman AttorneyRichard S. Sciascia and Q.Baxter Warner Appl. No.:

ABSTRACT An adapter member for rendering a cluster-type missile racksupportable on storage brackets or on missile transport vehicles havinga variety of differently arranged load bearing surfaces. Each adapterhas on its undersurface at least two 248/119 R......................B60p 3/00 .296/3, 35.1;

[58] Field ofSearch spaced Reerences (med support contacting surfaces,and includes means to lock the adapter to its support. Shock absorbingvibration isolaters are incorporated into the design.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,242,809Bauer.................................248/l19R 8Claims,8Drawing FiguresPatented May 2, 1972 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 6 //vu iiae 4 l'lkfy Patented May2, 1972 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 MISSILE RACK ADAPTER STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENTINTEREST The invention described herein may be manufactured and used byor for the Government of the United States of America for governmentalpurposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor-BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionrelates to missile handling equipment and particularly to equipment forstoring and transporting missiles in multi-missile units.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the handling of elongate objects suchas missiles, rockets and the like, it has become common practice toemploy a framework or rack whereby several such objects are supportedtogether in parallel juxtaposition and dealt with as a unit. Such rackarrangements generally comprise a pair of central stanchions andlaterally extending arms to which individual elongate objects aresecured as by straps or clamps. Decreased available space in modernweapon storing and assembling quarters plus increased weapon sizerenders it essential that the objects be nested as closely together aspossible without hazarding actual contact so that all space is utilizedto the utmost. There are, however, in use several types or styles ofmissile vehicles and storage brackets each with different dimensionalconfigurations of the rack-engaging portions thereof. Hence it becomesimportant to provide a rack to vehicle adapter which will fit both thestorage bracket and the various types of vehicle load supportingsurfaces. Also it is important that such adapter operate efficientlywithin the confines of available space and keep the overall load profileat a minimum so that the missile transporter and its load can easilypass through low clearance doorways, hatches, bomb bays, etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A low profile vibration-isolating missile rackadapter for mounting a missile rack assembly on a stowage support orupon a mobile vehicle. Means are provided for accommodating variationsin the load support surfaces of the vehicle. Ordinarily a pair ofadapters is used to bridge the usual missile cart load support rails andeach may be secured thereto at suitable intervals. Each adapter includesvibration isolators to minimize load shock during missile transport.Because of the compact design, the overall load profile is kept to aminimum so that it is possible to operate in confined quarters.

STATEMENT OF THE OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION One object of the presentinvention is to provide means for mounting a missile-supporting rackassembly on a mobile transport vehicle.

Another object is to provide means for adapting such missile load totransport vehicles having variously dimensioned load engaging surfaces.

Another object is to provide a missile assembly having a low profile andminimum external configuration.

Still a further object is to provide means for isolating a missile loadfrom shock and vibration during movement.

A further object is to provide the foregoing in conjunction with meansfor conveniently supporting said racks on brackets in a storage areauntil transferred to a mobile transport vehicle.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description of the inventionwhen considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of aconventional missile transporting vehicle showing how two spaced adaptermembers may be employed to support a missile rack assembly.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse elevation view, partially broken away,of one of the adapter members of FIG. 1 and taken on a linesubstantially corresponding to line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view with portions broken away of the device of FIG.2 taken along a line substantially corresponding to line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3taken along a line substantially corresponding to line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIGS. 5a and 5b are fragmentary end and side views respectively showinghow the adapter and rack supported thereon may readily be accommodatedon a bracket in a storage area.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the rack and adapter of FIGS. 1-4shown mounted upon a different style of missile transporting vehicle.

FIG. 7 is an end view of the construction of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings indetail, the mobile missile transporting vehicle 10 of FIG. 1 ordinarilycomprises a cart having rear wheels 12 and pivotally mounted frontwheels 14, the latter being steerable through lateral movement of atongue member 16 which may be used to pull the vehicle along a surfacesuch as a hanger apron or aircraft carrier dock.

The cart may include a framework formed of tubular sections generallyarranged in a Y" shape when viewed from above. The stem of the "Y isformed of tubular section 18 which branches into two spaced rearwardlyextending arms 20. A cross member 22 supports the forward ends of twospaced front load supporting rails 24. Each rail stands on edge and isprovided with a plurality of openings 26 spaced along its length toreceive an adapter holddown bolt in a manner hereinafter to bedescribed. The front rails 24 are relatively closer together thansimilar rails 28 which are located to the rear and are supported uponthe rearwardly directed arms 20 of the tubular Y frame. As shown therear rails 28 may also be perforated along their length with openings 30to similarly receive holddown bolts in a manner hereinafter to bedescribed.

Bridging the load supporting rails 24 and 28 are two identical adaptermembers 32 each having an upper surface 33 and an under surface 35.These adapter members 32 are so disposed that wide notches or slots 34on their under surfaces receive either of the upright load supportingrails 24 and 28 in the manner best illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.Referring to those latter views in detail, rear rails 28 are shownlocated within the wide notches or slots 34 and are located toward theoutboard portions thereof. The adapters 32 are locked in such positionby a pair of axially moveable holddown bolts 36, one for each notch 34.Each bolt 36 is urged outwardly by a compression spring 40 and may bemanipulated from an inboard to an outboard position by an operating knob42 which protrudes laterally from the side of each adapter memberthrough open slot 44. As best shown in FIG. 3, a holddown bolt isprovided for each notch 34 and the bolts may be staggered so thatactuating knobs 42 extend from opposite sides of adapter members 32.

When a bolt 36 is in the outboard position, its tip portion 46 extendsthrough one of the selected openings 26 or 30 in rail 24 or 28 and isaccommodated in an opening 48 provided near each end of the adaptermember 32. When it is desired to unlatch the bolt mechanism and free anadapter 32 from its rail, actuating knob 42 is moved inwardly and thenraised upwardly so that the knob rests in a retention slot 50 providedat the inboard end of each slot 44. It will be apparent that with thisarrangement'the bolt may readily be retracted and held against the forceof compression spring 40 with its tip portion 46 clear of the notch 34.Thereafter, when it is desired to slide the bolt home, all that need bedone is to move actuating knob 42 downwardly clear of retention slot 50,whereupon spring 40 will drive it through a selected opening 30 into thehome position illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.

It will be apparent that adapter 32 may be mounted upon either thewidely spaced rear rail members 28 or the more closely spaced front railmembers 24. in the latter instance such rail members will occupy aninboard position in notch 34 instead of the outboard position asdemonstrated with rail 28.

In order to prevent shock transmittal from the vehicle to the loadduring vehicle movement there are provided, on the upper opposite endsof each adapter 32, vibration isolaters 52 which may be of any of thewell known yieldable, flexible or resilient type. The vibrationisolaters 52 support a cross member identified by the referencecharacter 54 which serves as a base for the rack assembly and, as shown,is located above and spaced from adapter member 32. In the rackassemblies illustrated two cross members 54 are shown and each has acentrally located vertically extending upright stanchion 56, whichsupports pairs of oppositely directed contoured missile supportingcantilever arms 58. In practice elongate missile bodies are cradled inthese arms and may be strapped or clamped thereto by any suitable means.It will be apparent that more than one pair of missiles may be carriedby superimposing successive tiers of cantilever arms supported by thestanchions 56.

It is the practice to store assembled clusters of rack supportedmissiles upon brackets or fixtures in a storage area with the rack baseresting upon suitable support abutments. FIGS. a and Sb show such astorage arrangement wherein a bracket 60 has a vertically orientedsocket 62 to receive a centrally located stem or peg 64 shown dependingfrom the under surface of each adapter 32. Each peg has an enlargedcollar portion 66 (see FIGS. 2, 3 and 4) through which extends atransverse opening 68 to receive a locking pin 70 secured by a lanyardto the bracket. The same opening 68 may receive a similar locking pin72, one such pin being secured by a lanyard to each adapter 32. By thismeans the adapter may readily be locked onto some styles of missiletransport vehicles. With this arrangement a filled rack may betransferred as a unit from the bracket to a rack transporting cartwithout disturbing the assembled missile cluster.

The adapter bar of the present invention is readily accommodated by adifferent type of mobile vehicle such as the skid illustrated in FIGS. 6and 7. These views show the manner in which a rack supported by anadapter 32 may be mounted on a two wheeled skid 74. As shown such skidincludes a bottom member 76 having wheels 78. Bottom member 76 includesupwardly directed sides 80 and 82 between which the adapter may beaccommodated. Bottom member 76 also has spaced medially aligned sockets84 to receive the aforementioned rack supporting stem or peg 64, and, asin the other versions, this stem may be locked in place by a suitabletransversely located locking pin.

In this embodiment a handle 83 may be inserted in openings 83a tofacilitate manipulation of skid 74.

Of course, the vehicle types illustrated are merely to demonstrate theform which a vehicle or bracket may assume. Such adapter may also beemployed in conjunction with other vehicles and brackets as will readilybe apparent to one skilled in the art.

With the adapter described a missile cluster assembly with missilesclosely nested in place, may be transferred from a storage platform toone of the vehicles of the character illustrated with a minimummanipulation of the missiles and small likelihood of damage during thetransfer operation. When transferred to a vehicle of the typeillustrated in FIG. 1, it will be held in place with the spring urgedbolts 36. It will be noted that if desired the entire missile rack maybe reversed, end for end, since the notches 36 are sufficiently wide toreadily accommodate either the closely spaced rails 24 or the morewidely spaced rails 28.

During this loading operation the spring biased bolts 38 have beenrestrained to their retracted positions by knobs 42 engaged in retentionslots 50. Thereafter with the adapter in place knobs 42 need only bepushed downwardly to permit springs 40 to drive the bolts through theregistering opening 26 or 30 and securely fasten the load to the cart.Openings 26 and 30 are preferably made sufficiently oversize to preventbinding of the bolts 38 therein. The missile assembly may then betransported to the point of use and, because of its low profile andcompact nature, passes easily through small openings and under lowoverhead structures in a manner which would otherwise be impossible.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in the light of the above teachings. lt is therefore to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

lclaim:

1. in combination:

a rack having provision for supporting a plurality of elongate heavyobjects in close juxtaposition,

said rack having a base portion,

a mobile vehicle adapted to support and transport said rack andcontents,

said vehicle having a plurality of spaced load supporting rails,

and means for mounting the base portion of said rack upon the rails,said means comprising an adapter member of sufficient length to morethan span the distance between the spaced rails of the vehicle,

said adapter member having surfaces adjacent each end to contact saidrails for support thereby,

and means for locking said adapter member in place upon the rail,

the spaced load supporting rails each having apertures extendingtransversely therethrough and the locking means comprising a pinextendable through selected apertures in each of the spaced rails.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the adapter member also has acentrally located downwardly directed alignment peg so that said adaptermember may alternatively be supported by either said spaced rails or bya surface including a support socket into which said peg is received.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said locking pin is normallyretained in locked position by a spring member.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein the rail contacting surfacesadjacent each end of the adapter comprises notches in the undersurfacethereof.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein the notches are of sufficientwidth to accommodate either widely spaced or narrowly spaced loadsupporting rails.

6. In a missile-supporting rack assembly and transporting means thereforwherein the rack is removable as a unit from a fixed storage location toa mobile transport vehicle having spaced support rails, the combinationof;

an adapter of length sufficient to overhang said rails when placedtransversely thereacross,

said adapter having rail receiving notches adjacent each end thereof,

locking means adjacent each notch area and movable into lockingengagement with the adjacent support rail to lock the adapter to therails being engaged,

said adapter also having a downwardly directed alignment peg dependingfrom its central underneath portion adapted for insertion into a socketfor rack support thereby.

7. An adapter for supporting a load alternatively by either spaced railshaving perforations therealong or by a vertically oriented socket, saidadapter comprising;

an elongate rigid bar of rectangular cross-sectional configuration, saidbar having an upper surface and an under surface and being of sufficientlength to bridge the spaced rails and protrude therebeyond,

each end portion of said top surface being planar to receive loadsupporting fittings thereon,

the end portions of said bottom surface each having notches into whichsaid spaced rails are received, said notches being of sufficient widthto accommodate either widely spaced or narrowly spaced load supportingrails.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein said adapter is provided adjacent eachnotch with a lock bar which is adapted when in locked position to bereceived in one of the perforations spaced along a rail being engaged bysaid notch.

III t t 5

1. In combination: a rack having provision for supporting a plurality ofelongate heavy objects in close juxtaposition, said rack having a baseportion, a mobile vehicle adapted to support and transport said rack andcontents, said vehicle having a plurality of spaced load supportingrails, and means for mounting the base portion of said rack upon therails, said means comprising an adapter member of sufficient length tomore than span the distance between the spaced rails of the vehicle,said adapter member having surfaces adjacent each end to contact saidrails for support thereby, and means for locking said adapter member inplace upon the rail, the spaced load supporting rails each havingapertures extending transversely therethrough and the locking meanscomprising a pin extendable through selected apertures in each of thespaced rails.
 2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the adapter memberalso has a centrally located downwardly directed alignment peg so thatsaid adapter member may alternatively be supported by either said spacedrails or by a surface including a support socket into which said peg isreceived.
 3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said locking pin isnormally retained in locked position by a spring member.
 4. Thecombination of claim 1 wherein the rail contacting surfaces adjacenteach end of the adapter comprises notches in the undersurface thereof.5. The combination of claim 1 wherein the notches are of sufficientwidth to accommodate either widely spaced or narrowly spaced loadsupporting rails.
 6. In a missile-supporting rack assembly andtransporting means therefor wherein the rack is removable as a unit froma fixed storage location to a mobile transport vehicle having spacedsupport rails, the combination of; an adapter of length sufficient tooverhang said rails when placed transversely thereacross, said adapterhaving rail receiving notches adjacent each end thereof, locking meansadjacent each notch area and movable into locking engagement with theadjacent support rail to lock the adapter to the rails being engaged,said adapter also having a downwardly directed alignment peg dependingfrom its central underneath portion adapted for insertion into a socketfor rack support thereby.
 7. An adapter for supporting a loadalternatively by either spAced rails having perforations therealong orby a vertically oriented socket, said adapter comprising; an elongaterigid bar of rectangular cross-sectional configuration, said bar havingan upper surface and an under surface and being of sufficient length tobridge the spaced rails and protrude therebeyond, each end portion ofsaid top surface being planar to receive load supporting fittingsthereon, the end portions of said bottom surface each having notchesinto which said spaced rails are received, said notches being ofsufficient width to accommodate either widely spaced or narrowly spacedload supporting rails.
 8. The device of claim 7 wherein said adapter isprovided adjacent each notch with a lock bar which is adapted when inlocked position to be received in one of the perforations spaced along arail being engaged by said notch.